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| celebration of diversity at whitehead |
Sat 07 November 2009 |
Over the summer period there were reports of youth antisocial behaviour along with sectarian and racist comments in Whitehead town centre. Inspired by a group of 12 young people from the town, the community led by Carrick YMCA, has responded to these reports in a very proactive manner. A group consisting of members from the community centre, local churches, community and youth groups put together an event which enabled young and old alike to celebrate the diversity that exists within Northern Ireland today. The 12 young people, all from Whitehead have been working with the Bridge Project team consisting of NEELB, Carrickfergus YMCA, Genesis and community police team. The organisers of the celebration were pleased with the success of the day, with old and young alike enjoying the day. The local ethnic community and artists from ArtsEkta provided lots of opportunity to look at the different cultures that exist in Northern Ireland today. Maria Jones, Yakari Norris and Tanzya Teague all Whitehead residents showed off the foods, craft and dress of Japan, the Philippines and Zambia. The food turn out to be a hot favourite especially if you put too much Japanese mustard on it. The Chinese lantern making and rice art was a big favourite with the younger children. The various dance and drum workshops also attracted a wide range of people. The first two drum workshops were full houses with participants ranging in age from senior citizen to primary schools pupil.
PSNI officer Brian McKenna who did two presentations on the impact of drug and alcohol and racism on people's lives at Genesis Youth club during the afternoon said that the young people were very interested on what he had to say. His key message to the groups was 'to challenge bad behaviour if you think it is wrong' and 'don't accept casual racism'.
The NEELB youth department provided DJ skills workshop and a climbing wall for the afternoon.
Both proved popular and the climbing wall team had to call in for a bit of extra assistance at one point due to the numbers of people wanting to try their hand at it.
During the afternoon local Councillor Isobel Day presented 10 young people from Whitehead with their trophies and certificates, for successfully completing the 16 week Bridge Project life skills programme with the YMCA and community police teams. The young people said that the programme had change their attitudes on a lot of issues and that they would like to thank the two YMCA youth workers, Darren Whiteside and William Patterson, who had led them through the project.
The afternoon was summed up by one of the fathers who just watched his kids have a crack at the climbing wall. He said it was great to see the churches and community involved and seeing all the different people and cultures coming together to create such a fun time for everyone.
David Robinson and Martin Clarke, representing the Church of Ireland and Community Association respectively, probably summed it up for the organisers when they said a great afternoon with lots of great ideas for the next time!
The organisers would like to thank all the organisations that took part and especially Carrickfergus Borough council and the Community Safety Partnership who funded the event.
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